The Pocomoke Public Eye

Sunday, October 13, 2024

Time Machine: 100 years ago this week in Pocomoke's newspaper; 1941, 1892, 1993, 1983.

(see enlarged text highlights below ad)

December, 1941

Worcester Democrat

July, 1892

The Weekly Herald (Baltimore)

*October, 1993

Baltimore Sun

*December, 1983

Salisbury Daily Times

tkforppe@yahoo.com

Saturday, October 12, 2024

14-vehicle fire at Apple-Scrapple Festival

(WBOC)

(View news story:)

14-Vehicle Fire Breaks Out in Apple-Scrapple Festival Parking Lot | Latest News | wboc.com

Recollections from generations past (Mary Dryden- 2)

Mary Dryden (1902 - 1983)

TRANSCRIPT EXCERPTS FROM 1980 INTERVIEW

INTERVIEWER: Who was the first to get the first car around here?

MARY: It was either Mr. John Houston or Dr. John Phipps.

INTERVIEWER: Do you remember getting your first car?

MARY: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: What was it like?

MARY: It was called a Liberty. In fact, we didn’t have a car until 1920 and I was

the driver.

INTERVIEWER: I bet that was fun. Do you remember going to any Farmer’s

Day or any fairs?

MARY: Oh Yes. Pocomoke had it’s fair. That was a big excursion. Then we

went to Red Hills the first Wednesday in August, and then the first Thursday

we went to Farmer’s Day.

INTERVIEWER: What happened at Farmer’s Day?

MARY: Well it was a picnic and we usually went in the water that morning and

people who could swim, if they enjoyed swimming, and the rest sat away.

INTERVIEWER: Do you remember much about Assateague. Did you go over there?

MARY: No. We used to go to Pope’s Island Coast Guard Station at George

Island Landing. We would go by boat and then we’d walk across the sand

and the marsh and go to the beach and go into the ocean.

INTERVIEWER: Do you remember an alligator named Jake?

MARY: No.

INTERVIEWER: How about any legends or superstitions around here?

MARY: There was a farm hand on the Pocomoke Road that had a snake that

walked.

INTERVIEWER: It walked?

MARY: Yes, it would take a few steps. I had never seen it but that was one of

the legends. I don’t remember the name of the first one, but some man who

was an oysterman, he worked down in the oyster bay and sailed, was lost at

sea. His wife used to say that she heard him calling her sometimes at night.

INTERVIEWER: How about the storms?

MARY: Of course, the one in 1933 when the inlet was cut. It’s the one I

remember because it occurred on my wedding anniversary. My husband and

I had planned a little trip, but we weren’t able take it. We had big one in 1954, I

believe it was, and 63, I believe. But I don’t remember any real bad ones when

I was a child.

.INTERVIEWER: How about big snows? Do you remember any big snowstorms?

MARY: Oh yes. Back in, everywhere in 1946 we had one. A real blizzard. The

men had to go to Snow Hill and my husband and three other men here in

town started but they didn’t get any further than beyond Girdletree. They

couldn’t make it.

INTERVIEWER: What type of music was popular when you were a child? What

type of music did you listen to?

MARY: Well when we started dancing, I think first it was waltz. I remember the

turkey trot and the …..

INTERVIEWER: Were there any fairgrounds? Did Stockton have a fair?

MARY: Well the fire company used to have a fair in the summertime. Then we

had medicine shows.

INTERVIEWER: What were they like?

MARY: They were mostly similar to puppet shows. Punch and Judy and

things of that sort. And I remember one summer or two, Stockton had a

couple nights of entertainment similar to minstrels.

INTERVIEWER: What was that?

MARY: Well Pocomoke had this minstrel and they would put on shows and

have music.

INTERVIEWER: Sort of like a festival?

MARY: Somewhat similar.

INTERVIEWER: Is there anything else that you remember that we haven’t talked about?

MARY: In 1926 the new school was built in Stockton. It was one of the first

more or less modern schools in the county. As I say that was finished in 1926.

And it stood for fifty years or more, but it’s been demolished now. Then the

children were later bused to Snow Hill or Pocomoke, which hurt Stockton.

Stockton had a very disastrous fire in 1906. I don’t remember much about

that, but I remember a few things.

INTERVIEWER: What part of Stockton?

MARY: The middle of the town. They were all wooden buildings at that time.

There were two stores that were destroyed and the hotel.

INTERVIEWER: What was the hotel name?

MARY: (unintelligible). Mrs. (audio not clear).

INTERVIEWER: Is that a place that everybody went?

MARY: Well in those days, salesmen traveled on horse and carriage. There

was a livery stable adjacent to the hotel. These men stayed at the hotel and

would put their horses at the livery stable.

INTERVIEWER: Was there a place in town that all of the adults and everybody

sort of hung around?

MARY: (audio not clear) office, were primary for the men. He liked to play

dominoes. In those days when people went to the store to do their buying,

there were usually benches or chairs around the pot belly stove and they

could sit around and chat.

INTERVIEWER: See if you can think of anything else.

MARY: The night of the fire, there were a couple of stores in front. The lady

had a millenery shop at the time, came out of her shop with her nickel lamp

in her hand and was walking down towards the bay and the other lady had

put as much of her yarn and such, as much as she could, in a baby carriage

to save it. The pet dog of a friend of mine was just there and she ran up the

railroad track.

INTERVIEWER: What did you normally do on Sunday? Did you have a big

dinner?

MARY: Yes. We usually had a big dinner around one o’clock. In the morning I

went next door to the Methodist Church to Sunday School. My mother was

speaker, and we had to act older. And then in the afternoon we went to the

Episcopal Sunday School and mother was superintendent there, and then

they asked her to lead. So that’s what, we went to church mostly on Sundays.

INTERVIEWER: Thank you very much.

MARY: You are certainly welcome.

(A recollections interview with another long-time resident will be published next Saturday here at The Pocomoke Public Eye.)

Friday, October 11, 2024

"Northern Lights" seen Thursday evening-

(WBOC)

Delmarva was treated to electric pink and purple skies October 10th as a powerful geomagnetic storm brought the Northern Lights to us here on the Peninsula.

(Shore Daily News)

(Machipongo)

(Shore Daily News news story excerpts)

The Northern Lights were visible on the Eastern Shore Thursday evening.

Social media was aflutter with pictures from all up and down Accomack and Northampton Counties, showing various hues of pink and green.

While some images were stunning, the view to the naked eye was much less spectacular. You can see the Northern Lights, but they often appear dimmer than in photographs. The human eye has limitations in perceiving colors and brightness in low-light conditions. The auroras can be faint and washed out by other light sources, making them harder to see without a camera.

Thursday, October 10, 2024

Plump pumpkin-

A 760-pound pumpkin took top honors at the recent Agricultural Fair sponsored by The Eastern Shore of Virginia Chamber of Commerce. The pumpkin was grown by Doc Brown of Eastville. (Photo and info from the Eastern Shore Post.)